> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.themeatmafia.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Mollie Engelhart: Why a Vegan Chef Left Veganism for Regenerative Farming - URL: https://www.themeatmafia.com/episodes/mollie-engelhart-vegan-to-regenerative-farming/ - Published: 2026-11-04T19:46:44.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-04T19:46:44.000Z - Description: Vegan chef Mollie Engelhart set out to prove a farm could run without animals dying. Here's what changed her mind, from raw milk to her soil, and why she now runs a regenerative ranch. - Author: Harry Gray - Tags: Regenerative Food & MAHA, Raw Milk & Ancestral Foods, #blog, #episode **By The Meat Mafia (Harry Gray and Brett Ender)** *Mollie walked into our studio carrying eggs, jalapeños, tomatoes, eggplants and two huge watermelons from her farm. Then she told us that for years she'd been a vegan chef from Los Angeles who planned to prove that no animals needed to die.* She ran vegan restaurants in LA for 13 years and never served fake meat. In 2013 a TED talk by Graham Sait on regenerative agriculture changed how she saw food waste. Cows weren't the problem, she decided. Waste was. So she made a plan: a vegan farm. She'd rescue animals, practice regenerative agriculture, grow food for her family and her restaurants, and prove no animal had to die. "I proved myself a hundred percent wrong," she told us. The first crack came while she was breastfeeding one of her kids. Across the room, her older child was drinking oat milk from a carton. Out in the field, a cow named Una was making more milk than her calf could drink, and Mollie was milking it onto the ground. If her own milk was gold, she thought, why wasn't Una's? > "Mommy says no more milk in a box." ([09:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBEAVQqzDLY&t=540s)) Then the farm kept teaching her. She let her ducks breed without culling any males, and the flock fell apart. One night dogs got into her sheep and killed them without eating a bite. As she and her husband cleaned the organs, she had a realization. > "nature is far more brutal than anything that I was ever gonna do to an animal" ([18:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBEAVQqzDLY&t=1080s)) At the same time, the soil was coming alive. She describes huge jumps in organic matter and a 17-acre farm growing massive amounts of food. By her account it all pointed one way: we can't live outside of nature. She admits she kept the restaurants vegan longer than she believed in it, because she was scared to make the change. When she finally switched, it was to regenerative meat, raw dairy and a tallow fryer. That's the Mollie Engelhart we sat down with: a chef who changed her mind on her own farm, in public. Below is the rest of the conversation, from seasonality and soil to community, food security and the avocado story she loves to tell. Her views, not medical advice. [Listen to the full episode](https://share.transistor.fm/s/9a4af789) · [Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBEAVQqzDLY) **TL;DR:** Mollie Engelhart was a vegan chef who set out to prove a regenerative farm could work without any animals dying. Her farm proved her wrong, by her own account: a cow giving more milk than her family could use, a flock of ducks she lost by refusing to cull the males, and dogs that killed her sheep. She now says regenerative agriculture, with animals on the land, supports more life, and she feeds her family whole, single-ingredient foods. Her views, not medical advice. **Who is Mollie Engelhart?** A chef and farmer who ran vegan restaurants in Los Angeles for 13 years, the Sage restaurants, before moving to regenerative farming. She now runs Sovereignty Ranch. ## Key takeaways - She ran vegan restaurants in Los Angeles for 13 years before changing her mind (07:00). - A 2013 TED talk on regenerative agriculture convinced her food waste was the bigger problem (07:00). - Milking a cow on her farm led her to switch her kids from oat milk to raw cow's milk (09:00). - She says both veganism and carnivore can be a privilege, and so is cheap food (19:00). - Her test for any choice now: does it support more life or less life? (21:00) ## What the farm taught her Mollie's change didn't come from a book. It came from a cow with too much milk, ducks she wouldn't cull and sheep lost to dogs. She says those moments showed her that death is part of every food system, including vegetable farming, and that people who think their food is free of it are disconnected from nature. SAVE & SHARETHEMEATMAFIA.COM [![Infographic titled A Vegan Chef's Farm Lessons, from Mollie Engelhart on Meat Mafia episode 351: eat with the season, waste is a big problem, count the calories, every food system has death, pick single ingredients and know your farmer.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a7/74/a7746fb4-f95a-43c9-80de-d89d93cfaf68/content/images/2026/11/engelhart_card.png)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a7/74/a7746fb4-f95a-43c9-80de-d89d93cfaf68/content/images/2026/11/engelhart%5Fcard.png) A Vegan Chef'S Farm Lessons, from Mollie Engelhart on MMP #351\. Tap to open the full-size card (1080×1350) to save or share. ## Seasonality and real food She thinks people have become "robot eaters" who want every food to taste the same all year. She eats what's in season, believes in single-ingredient whole foods, and says produce loses quality the longer it's away from the vine. ## Cows, soil and waste Mollie says the problem isn't cows on grass. It's animals packed into feedlots and food thrown away. On pasture, she says, animals move nutrients back into the ground. She also feeds waste from local butchers to her chickens instead of buying all their feed. ## Community as food security Her biggest point near the end: you're only as food secure as your neighbor. She wants people to know their farmers and shop at farmers markets, because a relationship is worth more than a transaction when supply chains break. ## FAQ **Who is Mollie Engelhart?** A chef who ran vegan restaurants in Los Angeles for 13 years and now runs Sovereignty Ranch, a regenerative farm. **Why did Mollie Engelhart stop being vegan?** She says running her own farm changed her mind: a cow producing more milk than her family could use, losing ducks and sheep, and seeing animals build her soil (\~09:00, \~18:00). **What does Mollie Engelhart feed her family?** Whole, single-ingredient foods in season, regenerative meat and raw cow's milk, by her account (\~09:00, \~36:00). Raw milk carries food-safety risks, so talk with your clinician. **Does Mollie Engelhart think veganism is wrong?** She says it can be a valid choice and that people should do what works for their body, but she calls both veganism and carnivore a privilege (\~19:00). ## Related on The Meat Mafia - [Jenni Harris on finding real regenerative meat](https://www.themeatmafia.com/episodes/jenni-harris-white-oak-pastures-food-resiliency/) - [Joel Salatin on Polyface and food freedom](https://www.themeatmafia.com/episodes/joel-salatin-polyface-food-freedom/) - [More on Regenerative Food & MAHA](https://www.themeatmafia.com/health/regenerative-food/) - [Browse all episodes](https://www.themeatmafia.com/episodes/) **Get the free guide: 100 Books to Transform Your Health.** Join the Meat Mafia email list and we'll send it to you. [Sign up free →](https://www.themeatmafia.com/100-books/) --- *Not medical advice. This post summarizes a podcast conversation for education. The views are the guest's own. Talk to a qualified clinician before you change your diet, supplements or any medication.*